Blog Comments & Posts

Here's where it gets really confusing. What if you're the publisher of a new edition of "On the Road" and Huff Post, Upworthy, Buzzstream, et al are willing to publish a quick excerpt where you can link and drive traffic? Which title do you ultimately get more (views, clicks, sales) out of: "On the Road" or "Outrageous Hipster Road Trip Secrets Revealed!"?

So, of course, there's a slew of middle ground alternate titles you could go with, but I think the thought-experiment says something about context when it comes to titling--mainly, know where you are.

So, I was going to contribute something constructive, but instead I got lost down a rabbit hole of rewriting titles of literature classics as if I was submitting them to a Buzzfeed editor. Here's what I got so far:

The Great Gatsby: "Think Donald Trump is Bad? Check out these Jerks from the 1920's" Lolita: "You Won't Believe this Old Pervert and His 13 Year Old Girlfriend" Of Mice and Men: "Would You Mercy Kill a Mentally Handicapped Man? He Did!" The Divine Comedy: "9 Groups of People Even More Evil than Gargamel from the Smurfs" On the Road: "Outrageous Hipster Road Trip Secrets Revealed!" Tom Sawyer: "26 Uber-Sexy Pictures of Kim Kardashian Have Nothing to Do with This Childhood Classic. w00t w00t!" Lord of the Rings: "This Awesome and Inspiring Story of How Little People Defeat Evil is Awesome and Inspiring" Hamlet: "The Suicide of this Awkward Danish Prince with Family Issues Totally Made Me Cry"